Performance of the Electric Vehicle conversion is my next consideration in the electric Alfa GTV project.
The standard 2 litre ‘twin spark’ engine in the factory standard Alfa GTV, propels the car to sixty miles and hour in just over 8 seconds.
Increasing performance is one of my objectives for the project, in addition to making the car more environmentally friendly.
I have decided that I want to increase the performance of the car, without going to extremes.
The fastest electric Tesla car is capable of reaching 60 miles an hour in just over 2 seconds!
I don’t want that kind of performance for two main reasons.
Firstly is cost. The more performance you wish an electric car conversion to have, the more it will generally cost (unless you can obtain secondhand parts cheaply).
Even if I was given a large Tesla electric motor, then I have to make it fit.
The Alfa Romeo GTV has a sophisticated multi link rear suspension system, which takes up a lot of room at the back of the car.
The Alfa Romeo (916) GTV is front wheel drive.
Therefore if you wished to mount a powerful electric motor at the back, and create a rear wheel drive car, it would require serious suspension modifications.
Serious suspension modifications are expensive!
I have therefore decided to go for an electric car conversion, that keeps the original suspension, engine and gearbox layout.
Keeping the original component layout will help maintain the weight distribution, and therefore the cars handling.
Of course keeping the original engine layout does not mean keeping the original engine.
The original petrol engine will be replaced with an electric motor.
Secondly, is the cars characteristics, which I wish to maintain, such as feel and handling.
To maintain the cars handling, careful consideration is being made of what weight is being removed and added.
The aim is to end up with an electric conversion, that has similar weight balance to the original specification.
An electric motor generally weighs less than an internal combustion engine.
But an electric conversion has the added weight of much heavier batteries.
You also lose weight by removing no longer needed items, such as the exhaust system.
The Alfa Romeo GTV exhaust system is heavy, and can contain up to four catalytic converters in some model versions.
I am going to weigh components as they are removed and added.
The aim of weighing the components, is to replicate the original weight distribution of the GTV.
One of the factors in performance is the cars weight, so if the car can be made slightly lighter, then that will help with acceleration.
A useful calculator for working out performance is on this website .
The website link above lets you enter the motor power in KW, the weight of the car, drive type (FWD or RWD) and transmission type.
It then calculates the 0-60 MPH acceleration time.
Of course wind resistance will be a factor, and a tall square vehicle will have a higher ‘drag coefficient’ than a low sports car.
My objective for the electric Alfa GTV project, is a 0-60 of six seconds.
This is about 2.5 seconds than the original petrol engine could produce.
According to the website, I will require about 175 KW power at the flywheel.
Next: Electric Motor Choices
Hi. Any more progress on the project? Would be really interested to know.